Kaminari Body kit = not enough clearance to drop it 1.4" like I want with the TRD suspension. Lip on front bumper & sideskirts could be cut off, gaining 3" of clearance. How do you cut urethane without making it all jagged and crappy? Planning on sanding the edge to a taper and putting some of that chrome door molding on it.

Thanks in advance

 

please do not cut the Kami bumper........if it is a real one that is just a waste of a front bumper........but if you insist get a die grinder cut off wheel and marka line and another line and cut the piece off,now let me tell you the materials needed to repair urethane to join two pieces togehter in this instance woudl cost about $400,so just either sell bunper and find another or live with the small amount of scraping you may get.

 

on another note but similar subject how do you mold urathane. my kami kit sat for a year and got deformed!

 

heat gun and bucket of water,it heats up and then you can take the water with a rag and cool it down kinda like metal shrinking and it will move the poly a little.........just do not melt the poly.

 

what if its already painted?

 

my bumper has an exhaust burn. o.O can you fill it up by that process?

 

I know it's the Kaminari bumper and yes it's a terrible thing to cut. I live in pittsburgh. The "small amount" of scraping I encounter isn't always small. Sacrificing the lip on the front would mean lowering my car and increasing it's handling greatly. And having more clearance so less scraping, especially with the stiffer suspension. So....Why not is the question.

Thanks for the info

 

You're on 15" wheels? and stock suspension? x_x

I'm gonna be on 18's with progress spring.. but the kit's not on yet, so i dont needa worry.

 

Haha yeah, those are my winter treads. Got some new dubz en route to me as soon as I frikkin' pick a set. Tires stick surprisingly well in dry or wet conditions too.


New 17's + TRD suspension + front strut bar & rear sway bar = satisfaction

 

Highly doubt PA's roads are worse than CA's. I drove around with TRD springs that were over compressed (made me lower), & rarely scraped.

 

Not so much the roads. Who scrapes their body kit from a bump in the road? More like a bent rim. Pulling into/out of places is my biggest issue. Everywhere I go there's just an extreme grade into or out of the lot, I swear. And it's not always possible to angle your car to avoid it. And my sideskirts scrape pulling into or out of my parking area if there's more than 2 people in the car. Oh, and as it is, I have about 1.5" of clearance between my bumper and the curb of my parking area because we have to park 1/2 off 1/2 on the street. As long as I pull in slow it never scrapes though.

Look at the pic. There's my bumper. There's the curb, lol


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I see. Well honestly, if you have your heart set on keeping the Kami kit, I highly suggest selling your urethane one and purchasing a fiberglass one (knock-offs, but you can get a whole kit for $500 I believe). Although the fiberglass ones don't have the best fitment, if you're planning on modifying it to shorten the kit, then refabbing it to a perfect fitment won't be much of an issue. You'll be spending far less money into rebondoing or fiberglassing a fiberglass kit rather than urethane. There's a lot of special materials that need to be used with urethane because certain resins and such don't stick to urethane like they do fiberglass.

Hope that helps a little bit but I really suggest doing that over the possibility of destroying the authentic urethane kit, y'know?

 

Yeah I hear you. Funny you say..Maybe I shoulda kept my fiberglass one that I originally had. Didn't know I ordered a knock-off bumper way back whenever. It needed molded sanded primered & painted, holes drilled for mounting it had NOTHING. Looked different than the real kami bumper also. resold it and ordered straight from kaminari. Honestly I don't plan on refabbing the bumper at all. Just cut off what I don't want, sand, touch-up paint, and add some cheap shiny door trim to the lip. If it gets too screwed up afterwards or turns out terrible, I'mma get an OEM bumper & some nice grill inserts/fog lights. This kami bumper has been through hell not to mention the sides keep popping out of place and I've had to touch up spider webbing/paint cracking on both sides multiple times. Used to be happy my car looks sweet (wrecked & insurance paid for most of body mods). Now it's a bit more prioritized that I wanna make it handle/perform better. Different phases in my scionlife, I guess you could say ;) If I could go back in time and just have them restore my tC to stock body everything, I would. Minus the hood, I still want my Carbon Fibre hood, haha

 

Well whatever you do, good luck. You followed my path with the fake Kaminari, then selling, & rebuying the real deal, haha. Well....that idea went down the pooper & I sold the real deal, too. Now I just kinda went outta control. =/

I kinda regret widebody'ing my tC but then I think back & think about all the awesome experiences I've gone through & gained so much knowledge & met so many good people.

 

Yeah that's why I don't see it as a total loss. Totally changing your car more than once seems excessive, but in reality it's just going through changes like a person during their life. Haha. Personifying cars. I musta shot up too much scionide last night. Thanks for all the advice either way. That pic of your car is awesome, by the way =)

 

Thanks, it's many years old, & my cars been fully rebuilt twice after that. =/

 

your kit is also sitting very low. im on 18" wheels with hotchkis springs and i dont sit nearly that low!

 

I think my bumper has warped over time. I was checking out the bumper later that day, and the top of the lip doesn't sit parallel with the road @ all. Almost like when it drags into the ground it pulls it down/back. It's my daily driver and it's definitely been through 2 winters now, maybe that has something to do with it also. i'm s0o0o lucky